This fall, SMU will welcome another incoming class offirst-years. Of that class, 23 hold the coveted position ofPresident’s Scholar. This academic distinction isgenerally known as a “free ride,” however, as always,these students have earned it.
The average SAT score attained by these students is a 1431, andthe mean ACT score is a 33. With an average GPA of 3.88, thesestudents represent the cream of the crop in terms of high schoolgraduates. They come from eight of the 50 states:Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico,Pennsylvania, and of course, Texas. The 15 females and 8 malesaccepted also receive other benefits, including tuition andtransportation for a semester or full year abroad to one ofSMU’s International Programs.
However, not everyone invited to become a President’sScholar accepted the honor. This year the award was extended to 36students, but only 65 percent accepted the award.
The Dean’s Scholar program was even worse off, with ayield of only 24 percent, 10 of 41. The Dean’s Scholar awardis given to President’s scholar finalists, and it consists ofhalf-tuition, payable for four years with a minimum 3.00 GPA orgraduation, — whichever comes first. That is, onequarter of incoming first-years offered half of a full ride choseto accept it. Nine of the ten students receiving the Dean’sscholar award this year are female, and five are from Texas. Theother states represented are Arizona, Connecticut, Florida,Oklahoma, and South Carolina.
Of the 77 students offered one of these scholarships, only 33accepted. This obviously represents a major image problemfaced by SMU. If only 42 percent of students offered animpressive SMU scholarship accepted, then they obviously feel thatSMU is not the best school for them. SMU needs to recognizeand remedy this problem immeditely, before we loose moreprestigious applicants.
Our administrators are under the impression that SMU should beranked near the Ivy League Universities; if this is the case, whyare we not able to lure talented students with enormous sums ofmoney?
The higher-ups have taken a step in the right direction byimplementing a mandatory first-year reading material (AmusingOurselves to Death by Neil Postman). What they hope for is a slewof intellectual conversations to take place among incoming studentsacross the Hilltop.
This, however, is not the problem; first-years already haveenough to talk about, such as the common experiences that surroundthe first few months of college. The problem lies in theapplication process. An acceptance letter from SMU has lost much ofits meaning, as more and more students are being accepted based onvalues other than academic merit. If this trend continues, theapplication process should be similar to that of “The RealWorld”.
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